Sanitation Workers Remind Everyone It's Not That Easy

Flickr user My Pink Soapbox

In the days immediately following the blizzard, many frustrated Sanitation Workers took to Facebook to complain about the treatment they were getting for their (possibly) hard work. Statuses ranged from, "Nobody understands that we got over 2 feet of snow. It takes time to clear it be patient" to "F” the media!!! We getting it done, all day, everyday, until the snow is gone!!" A few of them are even speaking to the Daily News, and here's who they blame:

Small staff: "Forty fewer guys in BK 11 alone than in 2006."

Bloomberg: "Bloomberg didn't declare an emergency right away."

Bad equipment: "We were short 400 men and we had crappy equipment...The chains kept pulling the tires off my rims. This is 2011, and the city can't buy chains as good as they got 20 years ago?"

Not enough salt: "God forbid there's a fire. This is how the city saves money?"

People who drove in the storm: "You think I want my family snowed in? There were abandoned cars all over the gutter. How could you plow?"

Shovels: "How about the friggin' shovels? They come disassembled. You gotta put 'em together. The handle into the blade, right? Except what? They didn't have the bolts to fasten them."

Despite never accepting some of the blame, the Sanitation workers seemed as pissed off at how the blizzard was handled as everyone else in the city. One said, "Does anyone really believe we wanted people to die? Hey, we live here! That could've been our mother or kid that died. It hurts us that we're being blamed for this. I had one old guy throw a mini-snow blower at me because I plowed past his driveway."

They also denied a slowdown, saying, "Are you kiddin' me?...We know how to do this better than anybody in the world. We just didn't have enough men, the right equipment and the political leadership we needed." However, they didn't mention anything about the many New Yorkers who now have to deal with the mounds of trash rotting outside their buildings. But at least those save lives.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on January 5, 2011 3:15 PM

Comments [rss]

whitecastlerock

Is there a shortage of working garbage trucks now?

Brian French

Bloomberg didn't declare a snow emergency until two days after the snow started falling...how do sanitation workers get in, via jet pack? The reason you declare a snow emergency before the snow is falling or as it is arriving is so the personel can get to their stations, residents can get their cars off snow emergency routes and chains are required on the same...failing to declare an emergency by Bloomberg and the MTA is the fundamental reason why the shiat hit the fan so hard. The reason they didn't declare snow emergency is money, they didn't want to incur the potential OT that unscheduled workers would be entitled to...is it triple time on Christmas? I dunno, but you can bet Bloomberg knows. There's your reason...so anyone who died or didn't get to a hospital in time can be comforted by the facts that NYC saved a few hours of OT on Christmas.

I guess it is safer to blame a faceless contingent of overworked grunts than scuff the polish on Bloomies spats.

zaturan

this

yincrash

Being a sanitation worker is a thankless job.

etypical

and short of the guy handing out lottery winnings, how many jobs do you think there are where people are just heaping praise on employees day in and day out?

You do your job, you get paid, you go home. Only athletes get a parade for a job well done.

yincrash

I would say most service oriented positions where quality of work is important. I thank my waiter who serves me food on time. I thank my super who gets shit fixed when it's broke.

etypical

Well, that's probably for a job well done. I think we can all agree that wherever the blame belongs, the job was definitely not well done.

healthstudent

Yeah, except for the salary, benefits, and pension.

Peanut_Butter

Well...this introduces some new information into the mix. I'm willing to keep an open mind....

I'd also be interested to know how they clear snow in colder climates, such as Quebec, the rest of Canada, etc.